CASTLO News!

"CASTLO Sets Groundwork For 43-Acre Expansion"

~ January 20, 2009, Business Journal

 

STRUTHERS - A clean bill of health issued last year from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency will enable future development and expansion of the Castlo Industrial Park in Struthers.

 

William DeCicco, executive director of Castlo Community Improvement Corp., says in 2008 the Ohio EPA awarded the park a covenant not to sue on a vacant 43-acre parcel that was once home to Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co.’s materials storage yard.

 

The environmental clearance is the final hurdle to developing the land, DeCicco says. The site has existing railroad access and can support one large building or six small ones.

 

Additional remediation at the 120-acre park should be identified this year when a Phase II environmental study is completed, DiCicco relates. A decision is also expected from the U.S. EPA on a $200,000 grant submitted by the city of Struthers on Castlo’s behalf. The grant would be used to remove five abandoned tanks and abate any contaminated soil. Remediation of the site would begin in late 2009 and clear the way for developing the remaining acreage by 2010, DeCicco says.

 

Castlo’s 18 tenants employ 140, he notes, while about $122,000 in capital improvements were pumped into the park to enhance its appearance, marketability and aesthetics. Its Web site, www.castlo.com, was also updated.

 

Currently, the park is marketing a 4,464-square-foot building vacated by L&M Supply Inc. last year.

 

DeCicco says Castlo submitted a proposal last year to secure funds from the Ohio Job Ready Sites program, but came just short of making the funding cut. He says he’s hopeful Castlo will obtain Job Ready Sites funding next year to extend roads and utilities to the 43-acre materials yard.

 

Castlo continues to play a role in the effort to redevelop 1,470 acres along the Mahoning River that span the cities of Youngstown, Campbell and Struthers, DeCicco says. The Mahoning River Corridor of Opportunity, a multi-jurisdictional public/private partnership, pursued two projects to open land for development in Campbell and Struthers. The first will allow the extension of Bob Cene Way into a 40-acre site once occupied by Sheet & Tube’s coke batteries. The other is to secure funds to build a bridge across the Mahoning River to complement the Walton Avenue Steelworkers Bridge, which opened in 2005.

 

Castlo is also a partner in the Mahoning River Consortium, an effort to ecologically restore a 31-mile stretch of the river from Lowellville to Warren. And, Castlo partnered last year with Youngstown, Campbell, Coitsville Township, Mahoning County, Youngstown State University, Eastgate Regional Council of Governments and the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber to develop the U.S. 422 Strategy Group. The organization is focused on regulating growth and harnessing its positive impact should a proposed racing and casino complex open in Lawrence County, Pa.